Paranormal Attributions for Anomalous Pictures: A Validation of the 'Survey of Anomalous Experiences'

Abstract

A psychometric test known as the 'Survey of Anomalous Experiences' (Irwin, Dagnall & Drinkwater, 2013) was designed to differentiate between a proneness to anomalous experiences and a proneness to attribute such experiences to paranormal factors. In an attempt to validate the test's index of proneness to paranormal attributions an online survey was undertaken to assess the relationship between this index and respondents' interpretation of pictures depicting anomalous events. The survey was completed by 104 Australian university students. A tendency to interpret the pictures as documenting a paranormal event was found to be related to both proneness to anomalous experiences and proneness to paranormal attributions, but the latter of the two relationships was distinctly stronger than the former. These findings are deemed to provide validative support for the 'Survey of Anomalous Experiences'.